A&Es already struggling to meet targets before the winter sets in

More than half of London’s major Accident and Emergency departments have this year failed to meet waiting time targets at least 50 per cent of the time, a new report has found.

The figures prompted immediate concern that the capital’s A&Es, already struggling to cope, will be under even greater pressure as the winter sets in.

The report by the London Assembly showed that in 26 of the past 52 weeks a handful of main casualty departments — including Barts, Guy’s and King’s — failed to meet the four-hour target.

The most serious offender, Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals Trust, missed it every week.

Across London, patients had to wait more than four hours on 202,614 occasions. The Government target is for 95 per cent of patients to be dealt with within that time.

Six London trusts missed the target at least 80 per cent of the time. Chelsea and Westminster Hospital consistently met the target.

It comes as figures reveal at least 12,000 patients spent 12 hours or more on hospital trolleys in casualty units last year. One patient was left for 71 hours and 34 minutes at North West London trust, which runs Northwick Park and Central Middlesex A&Es.

Attendances at London A&Es have risen by a third in a decade to 3.6 million a year. Dr Onkar Sahota, chairman of the Assembly’s health committee, said: “As the winter sets in we believe emergency health services will struggle even more. We immediately need to be given much more information on how hospitals and primary care are planning [for it].”

Dr Andy Mitchell, medical director for NHS England in London, said: “The NHS in London is well prepared and has plans in place at local level.”